Gemcitabine Combined With Either Pemetrexed Or Paclitaxel In The Treatment Of Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

    April 2010 in “ Lung cancer ”
    Pasquale Comella, Vincenzo Emanuele Chiuri, Giuseppe De Cataldis, Gianfranco Filippelli, Luigi Maiorino, Giacomo Vessia, R Cioffi, S. Mancarella, Carlo Putzu, Ettore Greco, Laura Palmeri, Raffaele Costanzo, Antonio Avallone, Luca Franco
    TLDR Combining gemcitabine with paclitaxel is more effective than with pemetrexed for advanced lung cancer.
    The study evaluated the safety, activity, and quality of life impact of combining gemcitabine with either pemetrexed (GA arm) or paclitaxel (PG arm) in 105 patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The response rate was 20% in the GA arm and 32% in the PG arm. Median progression-free survival was 5.1 months for GA and 8.3 months for PG, while median overall survival was 10.5 months for GA and 13.3 months for PG. Severe neutropenia and febrile neutropenia were more common in the GA arm, whereas hair loss and peripheral neuropathy were more frequent in the PG arm. The GA regimen was moderately active but did not show any advantage over the PG regimen, suggesting it does not warrant further evaluation.
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